


Supernatural 4.01 review

by yourlibrarian



Series: Supernatural Reviews [20]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode Review, Episode: s04e01 Lazarus Rising, Gen, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-27 21:22:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30129042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: Originally posted September 19, 2008
Series: Supernatural Reviews [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2202249
Comments: 2
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	Supernatural 4.01 review

If I was going to sum up my reaction to the SPN S4 premiere in one line, I'd say I was glad I wasn't spoiled.

Perhaps because of the diminished expectations set up by S3, this opener seemed both richer in content and an interesting set-up for things to come. If nothing else, out of all the fic I read over the summer I didn't see anyone posit this scenario for getting Dean out of hell (although someone probably did write it). I was pretty invested in this all the way through and ended the episode both intrigued about the possible storyline I see being set up and ecstatic at the preview for next week. So I've got to rate it a success.

That's not to say it doesn't have room for improvement. For starters, the S3 recap was not a thrill. It only reinforced to me how little of consequence occurred last season as half of it was filler eating up valuable screen time. The cuts were less than impressive, and the song was far too upbeat. I'd have had no problem with using SPN's unofficial anthem, "Carry On" yet another season.

But otherwise the opener drew me in. I thought the use of Dean's eyes to represent his time in hell was dually smart. Not only was it cheap and easy to do, but it also gave us a clue that Dean was still Dean. No black eyes there.

The surprise of having him wake in the pine coffin (a pretty flimsy one, shallowly buried at that) was unexpected. JA should get a lot of credit for making this interesting and believable. I thought his hoarse and faint cries for help were a well thought-out touch and he played this wonderfully. Kudos as well to the editing crew for creating drama with that segment.

I almost laughed at his hands breaking out of the grave though. I expected to see Buffy sitting there waiting for him, staking him, and then strolling off with Giles and Willow (would have been an even shorter season than S3). Again though, props to JA for making that look painful as unused muscles join unused vocal cords in his struggle to get out. Speaking of Buffy though, I couldn't help noting the difference in what he was dressed in. She gets laid to rest in a nice black dress. He has apparently been changed for burial (given the state his clothes were in when last seen) and it's nothing more than his ordinary wear, and still layered. The felled circle of trees was a good shot to go out on and laid a good expectation for the sort of power that brought him back.

Is it my imagination or has JA never looked so bowlegged as he did in that stroll to the gas station? Guess he came back at the crack of dawn or something, because why else would no one be around when the newspaper indicated this was likely Friday? This was not an abandoned place. He sure regained his strength fast though –- one punch to get through that glass. And speaking of glass, boy, should he have been cut to bits from all those explosions and shards he was rolling in.

Side question –- is this the first season that Jerry Wanek and Serge Ladoceur are producers? And is it the first year for Vladimir Steffof?

I like the way we see Dean unconcernedly helping himself to whatever he wants. It's a good reminder that the Winchesters have basically grown up as thieves and coming back from the grave sure isn't going to change that. I was also wondering at first if JA's hair had gotten darker this year but later realized they had just darkened it with all that grave dirt in these early scenes. Nice bit with Bobby just hanging up and threatening. Another good reminder that this is a verse where awful, creepy things happen and there isn't much expectation for second chances and happy events. I was kind of disappointed that Dean had another retro car to heist –- it would have been amusing seeing him in an old VW Rabbit or something.

Has Bobby's door changed? It just didn't look like the same entry we saw in Devil's Trap or BUaBS. It makes perfect sense that Bobby wouldn't believe it was Dean (and that his going through this spares us the same scene with Sam later). I also loved the holy water in the face even after he hugs him. Another wonderful moment from JA.

Heh to Wedge Antilles. Should we assume that Dean's wearing Bobby's clothes? Did he somehow hang on to Dean's stuff? (I'd guess not since Sam was planning to be the one to bring him back and Bobby was out of the loop). Or is this a different day, after there's been some shopping for necessities?

I'm not clear on the girl who answers Sam's door: (1) is she really just someone Sam picked up but Ruby's not possessing her just then, or (2) She is and thus she and Sam really aren't as surprised to see Dean as Sam seems. This may be answered if next week Ruby appears in a different body (and it's certainly a way to have a series regular on a guest star's pay). I've got to say though, I miss Katie Cassidy as I didn't find this actress in the least convincing in the diner scene. And also, if JP keeps working out and broadening up he's going to start looking like a cartoon superhero. At this point they're going to have to tailor all his clothes because in order to get them wide enough for his shoulders they're hanging off of him like a scarecrow. I was also amused by Jim Beaver trying to stop JP with an arm over his shoulder of all things. JP must have had to be crouching for that to work on film.

It does suggest though that if that was Ruby in the girl's body all along that she and Sam may be rooming together but they're not necessarily sleeping together. Sam would have every reason to play that off, knowing how Dean feels about Ruby, letting him see what he wants.

I was amused by the official post-hug standoff as they both nod at one another. I was laughing because one of the first things Dean says to Sam is how good he looks. Yes, flippant and vain but no wonder the girl thinks these are ex-lovers with a love-hate past reuniting! That must have been an interesting set of conversations going on as both got dressed as well.

I'm not convinced we've heard all there is to know about Sam's time on his own. Or perhaps that's just wishful thinking on my part. The idea that we'll bypass the last few months Sam has spent with nothing but an admission of failure on his part just seems like more of what we got in S3 and I'm past tired of that. But his attitude here, four months out after Dean has died for good, and his state in Mystery Spot, at least six months after he died, seems quite different. I wouldn't go so far as to call him jovial, but he's awfully lighthearted, and not just because he's been sleeping around. He seems awfully accepting that Dean is back and things are fine. Letting him out of his sight to go hunt down some demons that didn't seem that threatening is just one example.

The fact that Sam gave up trying to save Dean after just a few months and went after Lilith instead seems equally surprising. This is just highlighted when Bobby says "Who do you think you are, your old man?" First of all –- ouch! What a hell of a thing to say to someone! Given that during Mystery Spot, Sam indeed seemed not only very John-like but was hunting on his own with no problem makes that a pretty low blow. Obviously Bobby doesn't know that, but still. Not exactly a vote of confidence in Sam, is it? That Sam seems to respond simply by apologizing for not calling seemed odd to me. I'm trying to remember now if we saw Sam wearing Dean's amulet in Mystery Spot. I think the answer's no. That he's wearing it here, and put the iPod in the Impala saying he thought it was his car, all seems to point to an acceptance that Dean wasn't returning. I did wonder though, when he asks what Dean remembers and says "Thank God for that" (which, I guess he should, heh). Was Sam glad Dean didn't remember for other reasons that he's covering up?

HE ALMOST FORGOT THE IMPALA? Also, love the threesome invite, but what's with the "Grumpy"? Is there some sort of disconnect between how JP was supposed to be playing all these scenes and the way he did play it? Because I could see that name being dropped on S1 bitchface Sam, but in the 5 minutes Pamela's seen him he's been anything from pleasant to gleeful. (Also, am I off base on this or could Pamela Barnes have been modeled on Pamela Des Barres? There were wardrobe and decorating touches that made me wonder).

I did wonder if, as Dean was looking around and Sam was concentrating, if Sam wasn't using his demon-controlling abilities at the seance. Not that it should have had any effect on Castiel, but given what we see later he could have them. Also, I get that Pamela wasn't the only one who lost her eyes in this episode, but I can't say I was thrilled by the motif of the sexually aggressive woman being blinded, y'know? (Also, we were apparently supposed to hear Sam calling 911 in the background but that didn't get looped).

Nice callback to the Pilot's "my boobs" line. I was wondering if Sam had known before they went in that the demons were in the diner, but if he did I don't think JP was playing it that way. I also have to agree with Sam. Given that Dean had already shown that the demons weren't going to risk getting aggressive with them, why not go ahead and kill them right then? At the least it might have attracted the attention of the demon Dean thinks is behind his resurrection. Yes, they had the one knife, but that's all they had when they went after Lillith.

The mirror on the ceiling immediately made me think of Sin City and Ruby and Sam's scene there, so it's kind of fitting that Sam will run into Ruby in the diner. At the very least these two scenes, where Dean wants to come back and take charge and Sam goes off on his own to take down the demons, seemed an important character moment. I like what it foreshadows of the two taking increasingly separate paths (and it's one more example of how Sam's not only been on his own but settled into being on his own). Why on earth wouldn't Dean head out the door immediately though, upon being struck with the killer sound and exploding glass again? I sure would have and I don't even have hunter reflexes.

"In my car?" Huh? Is Sam expected to walk everywhere unless Dean's driving? I'm going to assume that was intended as another example of Dean trying to reassert himself awkwardly, although the way JP read the line that kind of got lost. Dean keeping Sam out of the loop made me curious as to whether that was meant to be an example of Dean again playing an old tape (keep Sam safe) or whether he did so because he still doesn't trust he knows what's going on with Sam. I was also wondering at first whether Sam had killed or just exorcised the demon. On the one hand his "I was going to say the same thing to you" suggests it's just an exorcism. On the other, the end seemed kind of fiery, and Sam didn't take the demon-killing knife with him, implying to me that he didn't need it to protect himself and defeat the demons. And, of course, if he could kill the demons after removing them from the host, it's certainly safer all around.

Castiel's appearance was plenty dramatic and I, at least, found his reveal unexpected given Kripke's complete denial of angels in the SPN-verse not a year ago. Poor Dean –- "Not in my experience" came out of his mouth about the same time as "Not in his world" came out of mine. I really loved the twist on "we have work to do" that ended this episode too. I also like the way the title ended up being quite literal, not just metaphorical.

So we got some humor, we got some brotherly moments, we got some drama, we got some exposition, we got some callbacks, and we got some surprises. All in all, a pretty well rounded episode. And next week we will all get a bit of Henriksen again! And Meg! Squee!


End file.
